Business ethics project

1-Different Definitions of CSR and the Four Models:   A-What is CSR?       In our actual business world, Corporate Social Responsibility has become an increasing concern. This is mainly the result of a growing interaction between governments, businesses and society as a whole. In the past, businesses used to focus only on the economic results of their decisions. “Today, however, businesses must also reflect on the legal, ethical, moral and social consequences of their decisions” (Anderson,1989). In fact, in our actual world today, organizations should think and act ethically, morally and socially while making decisions in order to be efficient on the marketplace. Corporate Social Responsibility is mainly how companies manage the business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society. Therefore, Corporate Social Responsibility is a new way of doing business to respond to the market needs and its stakeholders. "Social responsibility is the responsibility of an organization for the impacts of its decisions and activities on society and the environment, through transparent and ethical behavior that is consistent with sustainable development and the welfare of the society; takes into account the expectations of stakeholders ; is in compliance with applicable law and consistent with international norms of behavior and is integrated throughout the organization".This is a working definition by ISO 26000 working group on social responsibility (Sydney, February 2007).   B-The four CSR Models: The Economic, Philanthropic, Social Web and Integrative Model     The Economic Model of CSR holds that the primary duty of business is to fulfill economic functions. Therefore, the social responsibility of business managers is simply to pursue profits but of course within the law. We usually refer to profits as a direct measure to see how well a business firm is meeting the society's expectations. Profits is in fact the best indication that the company is being effective and efficient on the market. In this model, we can effectively see some of the utilitarians ideas and the neoclassical economics. In fact, the primary social responsibility of business managers is to maximize the shareholders's profits that will lead towards the optimal satisfaction of consumer demand. We can clearly see the utilitarianism interpretation here while providing the optimal social good.     The Philanthropic Model holds that business is free to contribute to social causes as a matter of philanthropy. The business has no strict obligation to contribute to social causes, but it is definitely a good thing by doing it. The business should proudly contribute to society in ways that go beyond the minimum obligations of laws and economics. On the other hand,in the philanthropy model, there are cases where charity is done because it brings good public relations to the firm, provides some helpful tax deduction and builds a good reputation within the community. We can clearly see that involving in social acts has a lot of benefits to the company and most businesses today do so.     On the other hand, the Social Web Model considers the business as a simple citizen of the society in which it operates. Therefore, the normal ethical duties and obligations that we all face must be respected by the corporation. According to the philosopher Norman Bowie, "Beyond economic duty and duty to obey the law, business has an equally important ethical duty to respect human rights". Here, we can clearly see the "Kantian" theory of business ethics. Bowie also mentioned that the company should take care of employees by respecting their social rights even if it's not mentioned by the law. Here appears the right to work in safe and healthy workplaces, the right of privacy and the right of due process (a right guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution). Moreover, Bowie insisted on the fact that business should respect the rights of consumers (even if it is not specified by the law) by selling safe products and giving a truthful advertising. Here, it is important to talk about the stakeholder theory that falls within the Social Web model. This theory states that a wide variety of people, benefiting some and imposing costs on others, are affected by every business decision.       Finally, the integrative model of CSR reflects that firms firms should have social goals at the center of their operations and should fully integrate economic and social goals. This model involves two key ideas: the social entrepreneurship which demonstrates that profit is not incompatible with doing good, and the sustainability which holds that a firm should seriously take into consideration the environment.       C-Is Corporate Social Responsibility good for business?   The General Electric CEO explained that: CSR was not a "self-sacrificing attempt to save the planet", but instead because GE planned "to make money doing it". Here we clearly see that companies use CSR as a competitive advantage in order to make more profits by working ethically: good ethics is good business. enlightened self-interest               4-The relation between CSR and the philosophical moral theories   Are the moral theories that form the basis for CSR policies based on ethical egoism, libertarianism, utilitarianism, or some kind of common-sense morality?   A-Relation between CSR and Utilitarianism    Recalling the definition of Utilitarianism, it is a philosophical line of thought which focus on maximizing the happiness of the greatest possible number of people, defined by Bentham (1815). Utilitarianism focus on outcomes rather than the intention. Relating it to CSR, the aim of companies should be to promote the best possible outcome, by maximizing happiness from an impartial perspective. Utilitarians suggest that companies should use a great part of their resources to help poor, sick and hungry people around the world. From the utilitarian perspective, helping poor and hungry people in Africa rather than giving bonuses to people in Danemark for example, will maximize happiness (Singer,1970). On the other hand, we can clearly identify some utilitarians ideas in the Economic Model of CSR. In fact, in this model, the primary social responsibility of business managers is to pursue maximum profits for shareholders that will continuously work towards the optimal satisfaction of consumer Demand, that will lead to the optimal social good. Here we identify the utilitarianism interpretation.     B-Relation between CSR and Egoism    From the egoist perspective, the morally correct action is one that maximizes the good for the moral agent. In fact, a company should act in its own self-interest. This means that a company ought to do good only if it is good for the company, in other words if it helps to maximize profit. The aim of CSR is to benefit the company, and  has no obligation to benefit others. In fact, the company should worry about its employees , people in needs only if it is in the company's self interest.     C-Relation between CSR and Libertarianism   Libertarians does not believe in positive duties like donating to charity but instead in negative rights like freedom of speech, religion,… Helping poor Africans is an ethical thing, but you have no moral to do so. People have a moral obligation not to harm, but have no moral obligation to positively help anyone. (Nozick,1974) Relating to CSR, libertines believe that companies are morally obligated not to violate anyone's negative rights, but have no moral obligation to positively help anyone.     D-Relation Between CSR and Kant   The main idea of the eighteenth century German philosopher Immanuel Kant is that every individual human being has a human right to be treated with respect. There is a relation between Kant and the stakeholder theory that falls within the Social Web model, which states that a wide variety of people, benefiting some and imposing costs on others, are affected by every business decision. In fact, in its Kantian formulation, stakeholder theory argues that the overriding moral imperative is to treat all people as ends and never as means only.             References: 1-Anderson, Jerry. Corporate Social Responsibility: Guidelines for Top Management. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1989. Print. 2-ISO 26000. (2007). businessthatcares. In business that cares. Retrieved july 17 2013, from http://businessthatcares.blogspot.com/2010/08/corporate-social-responsibility-and.html. 3-SAHELI CHAKRABORTY. (TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2010). CSR and the society. In Business that cares. Retrieved july 14 2013, from http://businessthatcares.blogspot.com/2010/08/corporate-social-responsibility-and.html. 4-Richard Goosen. (december 2006). CSR as a competitive advantage. 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